In The Haze of War
by Holly Chase
Summary: In which James attempts to read Harry a story and everyone else just won't stop interrupting./ Written for the Quidditch Fanfiction League: round 6. (Just a load of Marauder fluffiness with the added bonus of baby Harry.)


**Round #5**

Characters: James, Harry, Lily, Peter, Remus and Sirius

Genre: Family/Friendship

Words: 2,414

* * *

**In The Haze of War**

"Just…" Lily seemed to struggle for words momentarily. "Please don't kill my baby."

"Don't you trust me?" asked James, pouting.

"Not as far as I can throw you,"

"And I love you too," grumbled James, jiggling Harry on his knee. Harry laughed at clapped his hands excitedly. "Where are you going again?"

"Caradoc's," said Lily with an eye-roll. "Apparently he's having a bit of a crisis and Marlene wants help, or 'lend moral support to make sure she doesn't kill him', in her words."

James grinned. "Good luck."

Lily didn't bother rising to the bait. "Read Harry a story, feed him and make sure he's in bed by seven."

Holding up his hands, James said, "Hold up, how long are you going for?"

"Caradoc's rose bushes got peed on by some animal," said Lily by means of an explanation.

"Ah."

"I may be a while."

"Yes," James ran his hand through his hair before turning to his son: "how do _you_ feel about another round of 'The Tales of Beedle the Bard'?" he tickled Harry's tummy, Harry gurgled happily.

"No," said Lily, "read him something different, that's the only story he ever hears."

"I don't know any other stories," said James holding up his hands. Lily pulled out her wand with a sigh and muttered a quick "_Accio_," a box flew into the room, throwing the door open with a bang.

"Read him one of these," said Lily. She kissed the top of Harry's head and then James's. James frowned up at her.

"You're kissing me the same way that you do our son now?"

Lily held back a smile, pressing her lips to James's; "I've got to go now," she said gently, prying his hands from her red hair that had somehow already come out of the bun pulled into.

"Hurry back," murmured James.

"Caradoc's roses," Lily reminded him and James groaned.

"Have I ever said how much I hate those f-" Lily shot James a warning look, "_freaking_ roses of his?"

"Often," smiled Lily. "Bye, love you."

James waited until he heard the sound of the front door closing before speaking again.

"So, Harry," said James to his five-month-old son who smiled up at him and clapped his hands, James smiled. "I guess it's just you, me and the cat. Let's look through these books."

James set Harry down in his crèche. Harry immediately set to work, pushing his toy train along. The box of books was large and dusty and when James opened it he almost choked on the powder that flew up.

James quickly decided that he didn't want to search through the box by himself – there were some scary looking dolls with staring, glass eyes – and just grabbed the first book he could get his hands on.

Written on the front in fading red letters was the title: _The House That Jack Built_.

"How's about this, Harry?" asked James, waving the book and coughing as more dust flew out from the pages. Harry looked up at the sound of his name, James picked his up and sat down on the sofa, and he pulled up his legs sitting Harry between them so that they acted as a kind of barrier.

James opened the book: "Oh, Harry it has _pictures_ –look!"

James thrust the book in Harry's face; he sneezed.

"_This is the house that Jack built_." Read James, he showed Harry the picture: a boy with brown hair and a smile was standing outside a large, red-bricked house. "That sounds simple enough, doesn't it Harry?"

"_This is the malt,_" James paused thinking; _what the fuck is malt? -_ before reading the rest of the line._"That lay in the house that Jack built_," James said, turning the page. There was a loud knock from the door. Then there was a firm rapping sound followed by banging, it sounded like someone was trying to bash the door down.

"Sirius, the door's open!" he called.

The door smashed open and there was the sound of laughter as Sirius and Peter walked into the room.

"What'cha doing?" asked Sirius, grabbing Harry under the arms and swinging him into the air. "How's my little Prongslet?"

"Anyone would think he was your kid," grumbled James. "And you interrupted story time."

Sirius ignored him; Peter grinned and brushed the hair from his eyes: "He has separation anxiety. And we were bored."

"So you came to annoy me?"

"Well, actually we came for the vast amounts of food," said Peter, "but if you want some ego-stroking, sure!" Peter disappeared into the kitchen.

"Don't touch the chocolate, that's Moony's!" James yelled after him.

"And where is the wonderful Lily-flower?" asked Sirius, looking under the coffee table as if she might be hiding beneath.

"Gone to Caradoc's," said James. "Something pissed on his bushes and Marley's at the end of her tether."

"Good, I hate that bitch," said Sirius.

"Sirius," James cuffed the back of his friend's head as he flopped to the floor, Harry on his chest.

"Pads just can't take the fact that he got beaten by a girl," said Peter, re-emerging from the kitchen with what looked like the entire fridge in his arms.

"She's been part of the Order for longer," grumbled Sirius. "And she was a total arse about it."

"She offered you a hand and said 'good job, Black'," said James, exasperated.

"Yeah; so?" Sirius said, he grabbed a bowl of tuna-pasta-salad from Peter and summoned a Spork. He stabbed at the pasta viciously as if it was personally responsible for his defeat.

"May I continue reading to my son?" asked James, holding his arms out for Harry. Sirius plonked him down on James's lap.

"Thank you, now Harry; where were we?" James scanned the page. "Right; _This is the rat-_"

"PETER!" roared Sirius happily throwing his arms wide, a piece of pasta quivered to the end of his Spork. "You're in Harry's story!"

"_That ate the malt-_"

"What the fuck is malt? Short for Maltese's?" Sirius licked his lips.

_"That lay in the house that Jack built._" James finished heavily before turning to Sirius.

"Maltese's laying in Jack's house… yum. When Moony gets here we have to tell him about this place; he'll be off in a shot."

"Could you stop interrupting my beautiful reading?" said James. "Anyway: _This is the cat-_"

"As in your cat, Minnie?"

"Shut up, Sirius," said Peter eating a chicken leg and listening intently to James. "I want to find out what happens to rat-me in this."

"_That killed the rat-_"

"Oh," Peter looked around worriedly, "where did you say Minnie was?"

There was a knock on the door: "IT'S OPEN!" shouted James.

There was a clicking sound and Remus stepped into the room.

"MOONY!" Sirius threw himself at Remus who grinned tiredly before sitting next to Peter.

"How did go?" asked Peter, prodding Remus's side.

"Great, up until the point where I had to tell him I was a werewolf," said Remus. "Then I got kicked out of his shop before I had the chance to say 'wait'."

"I'm sorry, mate," said James sincerely; "that's rotten luck."

"That's prejudice, that's what it is," said Sirius angrily.

Remus sighed seriously, biting his lip and frowning: "I'm not sure what to do," he admitted quietly.

"We can help," Peter offered immediately, rummaging through his trouser pockets.

"Yeah," said James, latching onto Peter's idea. "Lily and I made loads of money before… you know, and we don't exactly have time to go shopping."

"And I'm still an Auror so-" began Sirius.

"No, I can't take money from you," said Remus firmly, "it's not right."

"What's not right is you not getting jobs that are way below you because of something that happens to you once a month," hissed Sirius.

Harry began to cry, tone rising straight to a wail.

"Oh, no-no-no," said James rocking Harry in his arms; "does little Harry want more story?"

Sirius shot Remus a look that clearly said 'we are not done talking about this'. Remus stood, striding across the room and stepped across the hall, leaving the door open so that he could hear what was going on.

"Um… okay: _This is the dog that worried the cat-_"said James.

"Ha, I make Minnie worried!"

"I bet I'm still dead though," said Peter unhappily.

"James, where's my chocolate?" called Remus from the kitchen.

"Behind the marmite!" James shouted back, then he turned to Peter; "Did you touch the marmite?"

"Merlin, no," Peter shuddered, "disgusting stuff."

"Hey," James scowled but Remus came back into the room armed with about a year's worth of chocolate floating in front of him.

"By the way, you're fridge was flooding," he said by means of a greeting.

"Alright," said James. Then he froze and said: "Wait, my _fridge_ is _flooding_?"

"Was," Remus peeled back a foil wrapper, eyeing his chocolate in a loving manner; "I saved my chocolate."

"Phew… thanks," said James, tapping his forehead, "could you imagine Lily's face if she came home and the house was flooded?" he gave an uneasy laugh.

"Actually, yeah," said Sirius. He, Remus and Peter exchanged glances and shot from the living-room into the kitchen, Remus dropping his open chocolate bar onto the floor.

"Wait!" shouted James after them. "Stay here," he said to Harry sternly, sitting him on the sofa, before rushing into the hall after his friends.

James was received by the sight of Sirius, Peter and Remus with their wands drawn and wet feet. James looked down; he was up to his ankles in water.

Turning on Remus, James said with deceptive calmness; "I though you stopped the flooding."

Remus back up – James had never been a particularly great actor: "I may have messed up the 'freezing part' of the fridge."

James exploded.

"THE WHOLE _POINT_ OF THE FRIDGE IS THE 'FREEZING PART'!"

"_Scourgify_," muttered Peter, making a sweeping motion with his arm. The water on the floor vanished, leaving them all with sopping feet and trouser cuffs.

Meanwhile, Sirius had successfully fixed the fridge and smirking, prodded Remus in the side: "Don't be too mad at him, Prongs; it's poor little Moonikins's first mess-up."

"Firstly," said Remus, "if you ever call me Moonikins again, _I will kill you_ and secondly; it's not the first time I've messed up. Remember my O.W.L.s?"

"Oh yeah, only 112% on the Charms paper," Sirius shook his head mockingly, "what a terrible result."

"Well Lily got 115%," defended Remus.

"And I got 87%," snapped Sirius.

"Drop it," said Peter from the door, "James, did you leave Harry in the living-room?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Um…" Peter peered at James worriedly. "He's gone."

"_What_?" James pushed past Peter, running to the sofa and staring down at the spot where he had left Harry.

It was empty, a tiny indent indicating where Harry had been sitting. Oh no.

"No," James ran a hand through his hand, knocking his glasses askew, "oh no, no, no."

"Harry's good," said Sirius admiringly. "Not even one and already causing heart-attacks."

Remus punched his arm, taking charge immediately: "Sirius check upstairs, Peter check the garden and James and I'll search down here and the basement."

Sirius saluted and rushed out of the room, banging up the stairs whilst Peter unlocked the kitchen door into the yard.

James held his head in his hands: "The first time Lily trusts me enough to look after Harry alone, the kitchen floods and he vanishes. I'm the most terrible father in the world."

Remus, who was picking up cushions, feeling underneath them and then putting them back made a comforting noise in the back of his throat. Pulling out his wand, he muttered an incantation that made thousands of bubbles burst from the tip.

"You're an amazing father, James," said Remus: "as Harry will tell you himself when he's bit older. Now help me check the dining-room."

Waving his wand, Remus began to make the bubbles vanish. "I was seeing if Harry had turned invisible," explained Remus as James frowned; "there would've been a gap in the bubbles."

"Right," said James.

"I'VE FOUND HIM!" Sirius's voice sounded as he thundered his way downstairs. "HE WAS IN THE BATHROOM!"

"Keep shouting," said Remus as James covered his ears, "I don't think people in Australia heard you."

Peter appeared at the door behind Sirius, "Did I hear that we have found Harry?"

"I'd be worried if you hadn't," muttered James as Peter peered over Sirius's shoulder at baby Harry.

Remus began vanishing bubbles again, Sirius – who had dropped Harry into James's waiting arms – leaping around the room, popping them and shouting: "BUBBLE!" excitedly.

"B-b-b," gurgled Harry happily, "buh-buh."

"Bub-ble," enunciated James.

"Buh-buh-le,"

"Close enough," James grinned, letting relief wash over him as he held Harry tightly against his chest.

* * *

Lily got home from Caradoc's at a quarter to midnight; she unlatched her gate after muttering the Secret Password – which was Sirius's names for the enchantments that surrounded the place where she lived. As her cottage came into focus Lily could see a motorcycle parked outside and light spilling through the slit windows.

Obviously Sirius had popped in for a visit.

There was no breeze inside of the protective globe that kept her and her family safe so the heavy scent of honeysuckle hung in the air like a blanket and the natural humidity, trapped reminders of summer, fell over Lily.

The cobbled path crunched beneath her feet and Lily smiled as she pushed open the dark-ash door with a small click.

Light leaked through a crack in the sitting-room's ajar door, calling Lily towards the dying fire and the fragile warmth it would offer.

Lily stepped into the room, and stopped. It looked as though her husband had invited all his friends over for a slumber-party. James and Harry were on the sofa, Remus was hunched in an armchair with three jackets flopped over him and Sirius and Peter were splayed across the floor.

All of them looked so much younger in sleep that Lily almost laughed.

Sirius, calm for once; Remus, at peace with himself; Peter, looking as though a weight had dropped from his shoulders and James who Lily had the pleasure of seeing sleep almost every morning had a thin strand of drool hanging from his upper lip.

How charming.

Lily shifted James onto his side, pushing Harry against her chest as she squeezed beside them.

And then in a room filled with the sounds of rhythmic breathing and the flickering of the crackling fire, Lily's eyes closed.

.

_Fin_


End file.
